From & To Sathish #5 - Page 65

Avan, Aval Adhu 213

They all heard Partha's voice through the fog a few seconds before they saw him running towards them and coming to a skating halt in front of them, he stood glaring angrily at Ravi with his chest heaving in breathlessness and gritting and grinding his teeth in anger and Gayatri seeing his anger and realizing its danger, spontaneously turned to Ravi and gently kissed his cheek and asked, ' Master, do we tell him now or do we wait until we are all in one room and under one roof before announcing that we are now a couple.'

Ravi who was momentarily taken aback by Gayatri's kiss soon realized the reason for her action and nodding innocently replied, ' Partha knows me better than my own mother. So, I am sure he is not going to nag us for details at least not until Daksha too is with us.'

Gayatri smiling innocently looked at Partha and said, ' Bro, why are you panting and heaving? Surely, you were not worried about us, were you?' and turning to Ravi, ' there is no reason for him to worry when he was the person who walked with me and left only after he knew that I was safe with you nearby.'

Then they heard Daksha's voice yelling at them and the darkness of the afternoon fog took on another darker shade as all the lights suddenly blinked out.

She walked up to them and stood cursing loudly at the lights that had suddenly gone off, ' Oh F..k, I thought its effects would be limited to that part of the hills. But, I thought wrong.'

Ravi looked at her worriedly, ' what effects are you talking about, Ducks?'

Partha jumped in, ' The bomb blast in Chennai. Is that it?'

' No, baby. There is been a huge landslide near Thalaiyar falls and almost half a km stretch of ghat section is totally gone or covered by rocks and dirt ' and pointing to the lights and also at their cottages, ' the landslide has at the same time, taken down some major power lines and some cell phone towers.'

Ravi looked at her with surprise, ' Ducks, I just spoke to Guna, Inspector Sargunam a few minutes ago. I am sure our mobile phones have network coverage' and taking out his phone stared at it and said, ' Sorry, I was wrong. No signal.'

Partha anxiously asked him, ' Dei, you said you spoke to Guna. Did he tell you anything more about when he is sending more men here for our security?'

' He did but I am sure with the landslide and all, it's going to be a tough task to send any kind of help to us now. At least not for the next five or six hours' Ravi answered and then taking a few steps into the swirling fog, he stood visible one moment and invisible the next and with his face facing the fog and with his back turned to them, he said, ' Partha, send your staff away and tell them to be alert for any dangers and also to watch out for any intruders on your property.'

They stood and watched Partha inform his staff about the landslide which had caused the sudden loss of power and that their mobile phones would not be working for a few hours.

' Don't worry. It will be all right by tomorrow morning when you come back here for your duties ' Parthiban told them and looked at Ravi who said, ' Good. No point in placing them in danger that might be heading in our direction.'

Daksha asked Ravi about his conversation with Inspector Guna just before the landslide had taken out all the mobile towers near Rat Tail falls and enquired about any details that he may have provided him.

' He did ' Gayatri replied without waiting for Ravi to answer it and she turned and eyed him, ' I am sure he did provide details but our man here won't divulge any of it or at least while I am around and rather than share what he knows he prefers to leave us to flounder in the dark, blind and helpless.'

Ravi looked at Partha who seeing the hurt in his friend's eyes tried calming Gayatri down. ' Maybe he has some good reason for not wanting to share it with you or with us. Maybe he knows what he is doing and I think it is better that we trust him in this situation.'

Gayatri snarled like a wounded tigress and in a voice filled to the brim with sarcasm, ' Maybe. Maybe not. But then, who am I to tell him what he should do or not do or demand that he shares with us ' and making a circle with her hands, ' I mean all of us and importantly I mean me for it has been fu..ing obvious that I am the odd one out and I have had enough with this bullshit situation.'

Standing face to face with Ravi, ' Mr Master, play on. Continue playing your silly childish hide and seek games and all the best with it. But, I am not going to be f..king hanging around here while you guys do that for I have had enough of it. I am leaving and there is nothing you can do to stop me. Bye.'

Gayatri turned and had taken a few steps towards her cottage when Ravi's deep voice yelled out her name loudly.

' Gayatri. Stop.'

She stopped and slowly turned around and glared at Ravi who began speaking.

' That bomb blast in Chennai happened in a very high profile gallery and that too in a posh area. There were no survivors. The art gallery owner died along with the other family in the blast and in the fire that is still raging.'

Taking slow and deliberate steps towards Gayatri, ' Connect the dots. Art gallery, Bomb blast, deaths, temple thefts' and pointing to her, ' and you are right smack in the middle of it.'

She looked at him in total confusion, ' But what has Chennai got to do with what happened here in Madurai?'

Partha unable to control the anger and disappointment that he felt with Gayatri, ' Everything. What Ravi is trying to tell you is that there must be a major network of criminals involved in these thefts. Isn't it obvious when even small-sized statues and idols of our Hindu deities sell for crores of rupees in the black market that there will be major players in this game and people who will stop at nothing?'

Daksha gasped in terror and looked at all of them, ' This is getting serious, guys. Way more serious than what we anticipated and I doubt if we are really ready to take on such kind of danger that might head up here.'

Ravi Kumar shook his head and slowly again walked into the thick fog and like the sounds of thunder heard deep inside the monsoon clouds but not seen, all three of them heard his voice.

' Correction, Ducks. Not, might head up here but what is already here and fast approaching us.'

The Paliyan, Muruga switched off the Mahindra jeep's engine and leaving the keys in the vehicle got down and stared into the distance.

The six North-Indian men too joined him and stood cursing and wondering why there was such a huge traffic pile up on the hills and one of them said, ' Maybe an accident?'

' Nahi, yeh accident nahi. Bhooskhalan' the Paliyan tribal corrected him in chaste Hindi sending a jolt of fear up all their collective ar.es

Avan, Aval Adhu 214

Unlike film, real life rarely provides an opportunity for a retake. Time does not give one much leeway: it thrusts us forward from behind and blows us through the narrow tunnel of the present into the future. But space is broad, teeming with possibilities, positions, intersections, passages, detours, U-turns, dead-ends, and one-way streets. Too many possibilities, indeed.

Ravi looked at her with a benign expression and addressed her in a calm and comforting voice. Pointing to the path that they both had walked together, ' Just ten or twenty minutes ago, you stood crying to that tree called Miracle and yet here you are doing the same thing and repeating and reliving your life again.'

Gayatri's eyes grew large in anger and in a loud voice, she screamed, ' What has this situation got to do with that tree and my life, Ravi?'

' Everything, Gayatri. Everything.'

Placing his arm around Parthiban, ' what do you think is going on here? What do you think went on there, in that part of your life for which you finally made peace with by talking and praying to that tree?'

Gayatri shook her head twice and with eyes drowning in confusion, ' Ravi, what's wrong with you? How can you even compare this moment to that moment with my dad and my stepmother?'

' Because it is the same emotion, Gayatri. Love. Open your eyes and see without anger and selfish thoughts and you will begin to grasp what I am talking about here.'

' Selfish. Who? Me. Are you accusing me of being selfish? Why, Ravi?'

Ravi looked at her sadly, ' These are my best friends. I think I can even safely say that I am closer to them than even my own mother who you know how much I love and care about.'

Pointing to both of them, ' And they are willing to risk their own safety and are ready to step in between you and danger even at the risk of getting hurt and even after seeing what happened in Chennai. Why?'

Placing his hands on her shoulders, ' They are doing exactly what your late father and your stepmother did for you. They are fighting for you. But, you are not only fighting all those who love you, care for you but you are also hurting them with your words and your unreasonable anger.'

Taking the drawing left to him by Devathoothan, ' You know what this drawing means and who it is about. If, Beedi man left it to me as a warning, then don't you think that he had a good reason for doing so and don't you realize that I have good reasons why I am not divulging certain details about my cousin Meenakshi to you.'

Daksha took her arm and holding it gently said, ' Gayatri, Rome was not built in one single day. In the same vein, love and relationships cannot be developed in one day. But, sadly, they can be broken down and shattered to pieces in one day, in one moment and with one single inappropriate word.'

Partha looked at Gayatri, ' We all love you so much and we want to see you happy, safe and in peace. Trust us. I mean really trust us for we are not just your friends but your family too.'

' Gayatri ' Ravi said her name and when she looked at him, said, ' I love you.'

She fell into his arms and he held her and said, ' My cousin is bad and totally mad and when she gets into a certain groove she is capable of total annihilation. Nothing can stop her for she transforms into some evil maniac. But....'

Gayatri looked at him and looked deep into his eyes and saw him and saw his true nature.

' But, she was not like this. She was a kind, protective and also a very bold girl.'

Gayatri growled, ' From the way you are talking about her, it makes me want to think that you secretly admire her?'

She saw a smile begin a new life but then die a premature death and she saw his eyes fill with sadness and grow dim and dull with sorrow.

' You would too, for back then, she was a person that everyone admired, and she was truly worthy of that admiration. But all that slowly faded away and today the very same people who admired her when she was a young girl now curse the day she was born and that includes her own people, her family members.'

' Why? What changed her?'

' Love, Gayatri. For Love, can heal, give life but can also kill and make life a living hell for the person and for all those around that person.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON4iy8hq2hM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xKXLPuju8U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQAsbAoEias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib3r6mPD3aY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7yjPvf1PAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOubjLM9Cbc

Did you ever want it?

Did you want it bad?

Oh my, it tears me apart

Did you ever fight it?

All of the pain

So much pride

Running through my veins

Bleeding, I'm bleeding!

My cold little heart

Oh I, I can't stand myself

And I know in my heart

In this cold heart

I can live or I can die

I believe if I just try

You believe in you and I

In you and I

In you and I

In you and I

Did you ever notice

I've been ashamed?

All my life

I've been playing games

We can try to hide it

It's all the same

I've been losing you

One day at a time

Bleeding, I'm bleeding!

My cold little heart

Oh I, I can't stand myself

And I know in my heart

In this cold heart

I can live or I can die

I believe if I just try

You believe in you and I

In my heart, in this cold heart

I can live or I can die

I believe if I just try

You believe in you and I

How the story will end 😊😊

Avan, Aval Adhu 215

" Bhooskalan?" the man who had assumed the mantle of leadership of the five Northies and who had dared to stare at Meenakshi asked and the Paliyan replied with unsmiling eyes shining in his unsmiling face.

They all saw a memory flicker in his eyes as he stood before them and they heard him say, ' Kedarnath me hua tha naa, 2013 me. Woh jaise bhooskalan idhar baar baar hotha hai.( The same as the landslides that ravaged Kedarnath in 2013. These sort of things happen again and again here.'

The Northie man introduced himself as Bahadur and then introduced the other four to the Paliyan and asked, ' What now? Do we return and come back some other time?'

The Paliyan's face that appeared to be carved in granite, creased a tiny bit as he spoke, ' There is no returning until we have finished the job given to us. For, then we will be finished.'

' Bahadur, the lady, my boss you just met is no ordinary human being' and then he slowly glanced at each of them and asked all of them one question in the end.

' Are you familiar with the name, Tara and which goddess is called that?

Bahadur and the others smiled and one of them, who called himself Ajay replied, ' of course, we are familiar with that goddess. YouTamil people worship her as Amman here. But, up in our northern lands, we worship her as Tara.'

The Paliyan looked at all of them with a burning intensity and they saw his black eyes suddenly glitter like black diamonds as they heard him say, ' Then you must surely be familiar with that goddess who is called Smashan Tara.'

It was just after 12.00 and a few minutes since AM had become PM and even though it was slightly foggy, the conditions were not as bad as up in Kodaikanal. The light was bright enough and there was enough visibility available. They were not alone for in front of them were hundreds of vehicles with hundreds of people and behind them more, and more were being added to the long queue of stranded vehicles.

The landslide might have happened at Rat Tail falls but the convoy of vehicles that were jammed on the slopes of Nilgiris looked more like Hanuman's tail that kept growing and growing in the palace halls of the Lanka Demon king Ravan.

It did not matter to Bahadur and the others that they stood in daylight and in the sight of hundreds of other human beings for each and every one of them felt that tingle, that primal instinct when one feels imminent danger approach them and when some shiver and shudder in fear and whisper, ' I think someone walked over my grave.'

The Paliyan nodded, ' Good. I am glad I got your attention. Come, let's be on our way before it gets too dark for that will only slow us down.'

Ajay mumbled to Bahadur, ' What does he mean by saying lets be on our way when there is no road up ahead to even walk on, leave alone go up the mountain?'

The Paliyan turned to stare at the mountain and whispered over his back, ' Say nothing. Keep your eyes down and just follow me.'

At that very moment, down on the plains of Madurai, the black BMW carrying the woman they were talking about turned into a narrow dirt road and headed into the thick forest area.

Meenakshi got out of the vehicle and walked towards the two men who immediately whispered their greetings, ' Amma. Vanakkam.'

She looked at them and asked, ' Ready' and they nodded and led her away into the forest.

They walked for nearly ten minutes and finally stopped in a small clearing where three men knelt on the ground with their hands and legs bound and all three of them looked up with eyes full of terror.

Meenakshi looked at the two men who were with her and one of them spoke in a hushed voice, ' Amma, we could have done this without you wasting your time by coming here.'

' No. This is a serious situation and I don't want anything to come back and haunt me or my family. That's why I am here to see into this matter personally.'

She nodded and said, ' Get to work ' and watched as her men followed her orders.

Not very far away and maybe 30 to 40 km ahead of them in Madurai, Inspector Sargunam was talking to IG Asra Garg.

' Mr Sargunam, I am not sure what is going on with this case for it has taken a rather dramatic twist.'

' I am sorry sir. But I don't understand your words.'

' Inspector, I just got a call from our boss, Director General of Police, Sylendra Babu himself.'

' What did he want sir?'

' He wants an entire battalion to be sent to Kodaikanal and that too right away.'

' A battalion and that to Kodai. But, why sir? Our fire department and our entire traffic teams are on the way to Rat Tail falls to help with the landslide situation.'

IG Asra Garg's sigh was loud and clear in its brief and momentary existence. ' Not for the landslide problem, Inspector. But to protect the witness in this case concerning the temple thefts.'

Guna could not believe what he was hearing and wondering what his boss meant, asked to make sure if he had heard him right.

' Sir, did you just say a battalion of police personnel and that too for one witness? Why sir? Is this because we think this case has something to do with the Bomb blast in the Chennai Art gallery?'

' Maybe, young man. But, this order has come from Delhi and from the Home ministry itself. Trust me when I tell you that this is big business and it is better just to follow orders and do what we are told.'

' But sir, the landslide has taken down a whole section of the mountain. Many lives have been lost and we are not even sure how many more people are stuck in the debris, and it is just a few more hours before visibility sinks to a low and then it will be dark.'

' Okay, Inspector, I will convey the information to the DGP and I will get back to you as soon as we have reached a decision on how to proceed. Wait for my call.'

' Sir, before you go. Please, can you tell me why the Home ministry is involved in this case? Is this case involved with some international network of criminals?'

' No, Mr Sargunam. The chief secretary called our DGP because this lady Gayatri's family is connected in a big way with our ruling party and also because she is the daughter of Madhurima Prem and she also happens to be the director of their family business Premji and Associates.'

' Are they a very big company, sir?'

' Yes, Inspector. That company has a turnover that is estimated in the thousands and I mean thousands of crores, young man.'

' Oh! That's huge sir and we know very well that money, power and politics go hand in hand.'

' Exactly. So, just hang in there and wait for my call. By the way, have you made any progress in tracing those temple thieves?'

' No sir. Their photos have been distributed all over and all the border patrols are on the lookout. There is no way out for them sir. It's just a matter of time before we nab them.'

' Good, keep on it and good hunting.'

Inspector Sargunam was right in a certain way when he said there was really no way out for the three men involved in the Sadaya Perumal Temple theft case.

Meenakshi watched with a bored expression as her two men carried each of their captives and dump them into a small cement pit and then quickly cover it with its large metal lid.

' It's over amma. It should be done in a couple of hours.'

The splashing noise made when each of the three men was dumped into the cement pit was not made by water. It was made by Lye.

https://medium.com/the-crime-historian/the-story-of-lye-the-cook-the-murderer-his-wife-and-her-lover-187d29c92352

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/12/how-long-does-it-take-to-dissolve-a-human-body.html

https://www.newscientist.com/gallery/acid-bath/